Patches such as shown in FIG. 7 have been known in the prior art. Such patches comprise a patch body 30 composed of a roughly rectangular support 10 made of a nonwoven fabric or the like and an adhesive layer 20 laminated over its entirety, and a release film 40 which is attached to the adhesive layer in a releasable manner. The release film 40 is provided with a large wave-shaped slit 50 at approximately the center.
When this type of patch is used, because the release film 40 has a wave-shaped slit 50, the portion of the release film along the slit 50 separates from the adhesive layer 20 when the patch is bent, as shown in FIG. 7. A separated portion 60 (hereunder referred to as the “grip section”) of the release film 40 is gripped with the fingers and used to peel off half of the release film 40. In order to make the release film 40 easier to grip with the fingers, the height H of the wave-shaped slit 50 has conventionally been approximately the size of the fingertip, or about 15 mm±2 mm. The exposed adhesive layer 20 is then attached to the patch site such as an affected area of the body, and finally the remaining half of the release film is peeled off while attaching the entire adhesive layer 20.
One of the requirements for conventional patches has been a property to prevent their peeling and falling off during use on areas of the body such as joints and their surrounding muscles which experience active movement that causes considerable stretching of the skin. A modification has therefore been devised whereby the support 10 is given flexibility and elasticity and the patch body 30 is made thinner to increase its flexibility and elasticity. On the other hand, release films 40 which are thin but have suitable rigidity have also been used in order to facilitate handling of more flexible patches and to allow easier release by utilizing the difference in softness with the support 10.
With the conventional patches such as shown in FIG. 7, however, when the adhesive layer 20 of the patch is attached to the affected area of the skin S and the remaining release film 40 is peeled off, as shown in FIGS. 8A and B, the grip section 60 sometimes gets caught between the skin S and the adhesive layer 20 and is difficult to grip with the finger.
In light of this problem of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel patch with a function allowing smooth attachment to patch sites such as affected areas of the skin.